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Emma Brockes' She Left Me the Gun Launched with Nancy Richards at Kalk Bay Books

British author Emma Brockes cut an elegant figure, tall and willowy and confident, at the launch of her memoir She Left Me the Gun at Kalk Bay Books last week. She kept her audience giggling as she spoke about her South African-born mother’s lowly regard for the English. Those who had the great pleasure of hearing the award-winning Guardian journalist had an evening they will not soon forget.

They discovered that the faults of the English, according to Brockes’ late mother, included: “coldness, snobbery, boarding schools, tradition, the royals, hypocrisy, fat ankles, waste and dessert, or pudding, as they called it, a word she thought redolent of the entire race!”

Brockes was joined by local radio personality Nancy Richards in an intriguing discussion. Richards reflected on the “lightness of touch” with which Brockes had handled the more horrifying aspects of her mother’s life.

Brockes spoke of simultaneously knowing and not knowing that something utterly ghastly had happened in the previous generation. Her mother, Paula, had endured under the formidable shadow of Brockes’ grandfather who was a paedophile, alcoholic and drug addict. At the age of 24, she had her father arrested and prosecuted for child abuse. “Because it was 1950s South Africa, this was a substantial accomplishment. However, the case went all the way to the High Court in Johannesburg, where the children were called to testify against their father. Because he was able to represent himself, he decimated the witnesses, his own children, right down to the six-year-old, and got off scot-free,” she said.

Brockes also told of the challenges she had researching the case, and reconnecting with her mother’s remaining brothers and sisters. Her story is truly remarkable.

Liesl Jobson tweeted live from the event using the hashtag #livebooks

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Book details

• She Left Me the Gun by Emma Brockes
  EAN: 9780571275847
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Boek & Koek: Bekendstelling van Die ander vrou deur Kristel Loots by Delano's Kolonnade Sentrum

 
Kom geniet ’n snytjie koek en ’n koppie tee saam met Kristel Loots wanneer sy in Pretoria gesels oor haar jongste boek, Die ander vrou.

Loots sal Donderdag 20 Junie om 9:30 vir 10:00 by Delano’s in die Kolonnade Sentrum wees.

Moet dit nie misloop nie!

Besonderhede

• Datum: Donderdag, 20 Junie 2013
• Tyd: 9:30 vir 10:00
• Plek: Delano’s
  Kolonnade Inkopiesentrum
  Pretoria | Padkaart
• RSVP: Graffiti Kolonnade Sentrum, 012 548 2356

Boekbesonderhede

• Die ander vrou deur Kristel Loots
  Boek se tuisblad
  EAN: 9780799359374
  Spoor hierdie boek met BOOK Finder op!

The Interview

As part of Short Story Day Africa, I’ve been asked, along with lots of other writers, to answer a few (!?!-21!) questions. I’ve tried my best.

Do you actually enjoy writing, or do you write because you like the finished product?

When writing is going well I enjoy it very much. When it’s not I eat chocolate cake.

What are you reading right now? And are you enjoying it? (No cheating and saying something that makes you sound like the intelligensia).

I just finished May We Be Forgiven last night which I liked quite a bit. I’m not sure what I’ll read next I have two to choose from We Need New Names and The Art of Fielding.

Have you ever killed off a character and regretted it?

In my detective books I always kill characters I like. I hope the readers will like them too so they care about the fact that they’ve died. No, I don’t normally regret that.

If you could have any of your characters over for dinner, which would it be and why?

I don’t know about that one. When I live with them so long in my head I’m a little bit glad to see them on their way. I like quite a few of my male leads in my romance novels, but I suspect Mr K would not be very kind to them if they came to dinner.
I tend to have a certain kind of girl in my stories for kids. One best described as plucky and brave without reason, but socially a disaster. I’d like all of them to come to my house.

Which one of your characters would you never invite into your home and why?

There are many of those but it’s difficult to mention them without revealing endings to books that people maybe haven’t read. Most are psychopaths of one sort or another.

Ernest Hemingway said: write drunk, edit sober. For or against?

I have written incredibly sincere (at the time) nonsense when I’ve been drunk. While sober it had to all be deleted, so I suspect it is not an efficient way to work.

If against, are you for any other mind altering drug?

I’m for all sorts of mind altering drugs (Children: don’t do drugs!) but their effect on my writing is very much like alcohol.